Arcadia Snips And The Steamwork Consortium by Robert C. Rogers

Link to author's site for info and to purchase Arcadia Snips
Read a chapter there, purchase the book or you can even purchase character bookmarks.

Amazon.com link for Arcadia Snips
ISBN: 978-0-984129-00-3

OK – I confess! I had no idea what steampunk fiction was when ARCADIA SNIPS AND THE STEAMWORK CONSORTIUM landed in my computer.


So what exactly is steampunk? From Wikipedia: “Steampunk is a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date.”

Book Description:
In an era of bygone anachronisms and steam-powered ambulatory engines, a sharp-witted street-thief with a heart of semi-precious metal finds herself locked in a battle of wits against a secret plot to bring the city she loves to its knees. Arcadia will need to enlist the help of a reformed mad scientist, a stern suffragette, and a persnickety pigeon to unravel the mysterious past of the Steamwork Consortium - and stop the cabal of sinister mathematicians who would use that past to destroy all of Aberwick. Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium is both a cautionary tale against reckless mathematics and an accurate historical account all rolled up into one. In fact, the story is so accurate that you might consider it more of a history lecture than an illustrated novel.

My Review:
Arcadia Snips and the Steamwork Consortium by Robert C. Rogers is on the order of steampunk fiction. Just who is crazy and who isn’t will befuddle you in this delightful tale of developing steam powered machines and mad mathematics that leads to mad science. The brilliant and delightful Arcadia Snips is the main character encountering murder mysteries, kidnappings, air machines and all sorts of misadventures. Miss Snips and her cohorts must work together to save her beloved city of Aberwick. Highly detailed descriptions brings to life the characters and situations. The cast of characters are spectacular with their quirkiness and clever dialog.


The illustrations are wonderful, and if the purpose of the book is to make you smile at the clever back and forth dialog, then it does exactly what it sets out to do. If the giant mechanical spiders don’t amaze you, the probability engine will. This is a delightful story for young or old alike.

My favorite quote: “William Daffodil resembled what you would get if you dressed up a scarecrow and taught it to act polite; he wore his clothes as if they were an ill-fitting burden.”